Murphy's Law
by x-LinaNumairsri-x
Summary: A small modern AU fic, based off a dream I had. Oneshot for now, may change. OC/Neal
1. Chapter 1

Backstory

So this is kind of one huge author's note, to give a bit of background info on this story.

This is a modern AU fic and it's based off a dream I had. I thought it would be a good fanfic, until I started writing it. Then it became really fun to write, but only an okay story. So here's the official backstory.

We all three go to the Corus Gifted School of Unusual Abilities, (aka Corus Gifted School, aka CGS). This sounds like a "nice" name for a school for kids who have mental conditions: autism, retardation, etc but it's not. We have the good kind of mental conditions.

We have math, English, science, and history, like a normal school, but we also learn fighting arts. Why? Because that's what this school is for. Learning how to defend yourself in a not-so-normal way.

Some go to this school so they can go on to the military with some skills already intact. Some just have an aptitude for that kind of thing and just want to learn how to use their skills, which is my case.

The CGS is a boarding school, so you stay from the middle of fall to the middle of summer. The unusual schedule was due to the fact that the head of physical training likes us to work in all weather. Has some old-fashioned opinions that working in the middle of a blizzard builds tolerance or whatever.

But anyway, one thing that we always find ourselves explaining to family and non CGS friends is the dorm system, because it's rather unusual. Think of one very long hallway. Now add little hallways going off that big hallway. All of the hallways have three bedrooms and one bathroom. There can be up to six people to a hallway, two to a room. The hallways are coed, the rooms are not.

The school admits people from seven to twelve years of age, and then you attend for eight years. People have been known to drop out, but only rarely. For training, they supply you with bows and arrows, practice weapons (sword, spear, staff) and combat clothes, but you have to supply your own live weapons and uniform for classes.

I really enjoyed going to CGS, even though there were bruises and scrapes and pulled muscles and staying up till three in the morning trying to finish homework. It was like another home.


	2. Chapter 2

I tapped on the door. "Neal? You done yet?"

"Just one sec," he called back, and he stood there with just a towel around his waist.

To stall the blush that was now creeping up my cheeks, I straightened up from the doorway and mock-glared at him. "You were leaving me here wondering whether I would get in one last shower before I died of old age. Or boredom."

"Oh, come on," he teased. "You've already exhausted the several hundred books you have in your room?"

"Yes I have," I replied tartly. "I have to go out and find another used-book store so I can take it back with me. Can I take a shower now?"

He bowed deeply. "Of course, dear lady. I wouldn't want to stop you from performing your daily cleaning activities. I know you will weep and pine if you do."

I rolled my eyes. "Check your universe, Queenscove. When I have ever wept and pined for a shower?" And I brushed past him through the door, goose bumps erupting on my arm where it accidentally brushed his bare torso.

When I was in the bathroom and he still didn't leave, I turned around. "If you would excuse me? I have to, you know, _undress_."

He still didn't move but just stood there, leaning against the doorway. I shrugged. "Have it your way." I turned around and lifted the hem of my shirt. I wasn't really at ease with him there, but I was pretty sure he was more scared of me naked than I was of him standing there watching me be naked. I just hoped it wouldn't come to that, because it would mean that I knew less about Neal than I thought.

I was correct. He must have looked into the room for a moment, because I heard him start at the sight of my exposed back and shoulders.

"Sorry," he said. "I got lost in thought for a second."

"I always tell you to bring a map when you go there and you never listen to me," I scolded him.

He grinned, and left.

I finished undressing and stepped into the shower, thinking about how awkward that would have been had someone happened to walk by: me in jeans and a bra, him in just towel.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. "It's Neal. I'm gonna throw my towel in, can you hang in up when you're done?"

"Come in and do it yourself, lazy bum," I called over the rushing of the shower.

"But – you're not-"

"I'm in the shower, dolt. The curtain's opaque; you can't even see my shadow."

I _heard_ him roll his eyes. The door opened, then closed. I heard the clatter of the towel rack against the door, then a thump and a yelp as the door flew open against Neal's forehead.

I had no need to ask who it was, because I knew. It was my younger and ever-so annoying roommate and sister, Liana. And I mean, really younger. As in, she's seven.

"Oh yes, party in the bathroom while Izary is taking a shower, what a wonderful idea," I grumbled, and I heard Neal snicker.

"Now all we're missing is Owen and a disco ball," I heard him murmur back, and I grinned, even though he couldn't see me.

It was then that Liana decided to get out her scissors and attempt to cut things in the bathroom. (**A/N I had an obsession with scissors when I was younger, too. I will never understand small children.**) "Snip snip snip!" she yelled, and I saw the scissors on the shower curtain rod, then one the curtain itself.

"Liana!" I said sharply. "Get _off _the side of the tub!"

"How do you know I'm on it?" she challenged.

"I know you're not tall enough to reach the rod without standing on something. The hamper is too heavy for you to move especially when it's full. And unless you had silent mental communication with Neal and he is currently helping you, in which case he will be dead shortly because he was _helping_ you wreak havoc, you're standing on the side of the tub." What can I say? I'm an expert in the process of elimination.

"He did, Neal helped me."

Lie.

"Ah ruh-rihng mah teahf, ahculhy."

See? "So there you go, Liana, get off the tub."

But she was already back on the ground. And was again attempting to cut the shower curtain.

"Stop, Liana, don't cut that,"

"Why not?"

"A, it's destructive and unnecessary. B," I lowered my voice and hissed, "there is a guy in here and I have no wish for him to see me naked."

"Fine." And she moved to something else, which I decided was a towel because of the sound of the scissors cutting through the fabric.

"Liana, _stop_ cutting things. Put those scissors away, you're not to cut anything but paper and yarn with those, do you hear me?" I was getting better at managing her-

"But I wasn't doing anything!" –but I wasn't a pro yet.

"Yes you were, I heard you cut a towel or something."  
"No I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"No I didn't!"

I wasn't going to get into a childish game of "Nuh-uh," "Yuh-huh!" with her. She needed more discipline than I could shout through the shower curtain. So I shoved back the curtain and stuck my head out, in time to see Liana freeze with her hand on the doorknob. I gave a _look_, then gave her another one when I spotted my towel hanging from the rack in uneven strips.

"Liana Lynn Disart, get out of this bathroom, NOW. Put those scissors away, go to our room, and _stay_."

She heard the danger in my voice and scurried out of there.

I turned to Neal. "Could you please get me another to-" I stopped when noticed that he was staring determinedly up at the ceiling. "What's your pro….blem oh _damn._" I swore as I felt a draft from the door hit my chest and stomach. I had pulled to curtain farther back than I meant to and leaned out farther than was necessary in my anger, apparently completely forgetting that Neal was there.

I quickly ducked back inside the shower, and had opened my mouth to voice the request again when I heard the cupboard door open and the thud of a folded towel hit the hamper.

The silence stretched. I had to break it. "Sorry, Neal."

No answer

Sticking _just_ my head outside the shower this time, I looked around. He had left.

Sighing, I pulled my head back under the water and finished my shower, reflecting on what I should say to Neal when I found him.

I made my way out of the bathroom after I had finished, fully dressed with my wet hair pulled back into its usual braid. Walking down our hallway, I stopped in the room I shared with Liana to talk to her.

Weaving my way around the shoes and clothes strewn around Liana's bed, I sat down on it next to the lump that was her under the covers.

"Hey."

"Hi," came the muffled reply. Then, in a little, timid voice, "Are you mad at me?"

I put an arm across what was probably her back. "I'm not mad at you, sweetling. How 'bout you come of there so we can talk properly, huh?

A tousled head slowly emerged. "I'm sorry, Izzy," said Liana in the same little voice.

I hugged her. "Hey, it's okay. But next time I tell you to do something, you do it, and don't make up lies to get out of it, got it? And let's remember, scissors are for paper and yarn _only_, okay?"  
"Okay, Izzy."

"That's my girl." I stood up. "Archery after I talk to Neal, be down in the range in ten minutes."

"Do I have to?" she moaned.

"Hey now, the only way you get better is to practice, no slacking!" I shook a finger only half-jokingly at her and walked out of the room.

Neal's room was at the end of our hallway, which dead-ended at a large window overlooking one of the pond-gardens. I gazed toward the pond for a moment, watching a duck make its way across the water, before tapping a fingernail against Neal's door.

I heard a moment of shuffling, then "C'min."

I opened the door and stepped inside. Because the of the fact that he had no roommate and wasn't one for mush decorating, Neal's walls were mostly covered in shelves. About 5/6 of them were filled with books, but one had CD's and a radio, one had his schoolwork, and one had all of his training things.

Neal was currently sitting at his desk, and spun his chair to face me. I noticed a folder was laying on his desk with papers that been hastily shoved into it, and I wondered what he was doing that I couldn't see.

I leaned on the edge of his bed. We both sat there for a moment, waiting for each other to say something. I decided to break the silence first. "Neal, I have to say-"

And at the same time, Neal said "Iz, you must really-"

We burst out laughing, maybe a little more raucously than was necessary, but the tension in the room evaporated. We both relaxed in our seats.

"I'm sorry about that back there, Neal," I said, gesturing with my head toward the bathroom. "Liana's way of control. And," I fought not to blush, "I shouldn't have- I mean, I didn't have to- you know-"

"Yeah, I get it. Just, don't do that, next time-please." He looked at me with the strangest look on his face: pleading, desperation, and something else I couldn't place.

"There won't _be_ a next time, Neal darling," I caroled. "And I honestly thought you wouldn't have been complaining, really," I teased.

"Yes I _know_ there won't be a next time, Izzy dearest," he sang back. "But still," that weird look was back, "I am complaining, and don't do it again. Promise me."

"Okay, I promise. Are you happy now?"

"Not particularly." He spun his chair in a circle.

"What's your problem, Queenscove?" He was acting weirder than normal.

"There's no problem, Izary." He _never_ used my full name. There was a problem.

"Neal, I'm not stupid. Spit it out."

"Iz, I don't know how you feel about it, but what you did could be considered extremely shameful. One could even warp the rules of CGS around it to get both you and me expelled. I know you didn't do it on purpose," he stalled my protest. "But it's just…" He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I wasn't...never mind."

"Nealan Sophocles Queenscove, you _will_ give me a reason!"

He sat bolt upright in his chair. "How do you know about that?"

"About what?"

"About…the 's' word."

I grinned. Now I had something against him. "Our younger sisters _are_ friends."

"That's still no reason why you should know about that."

"Fine then. You give me a reason, I give you a reason."

"Okay okay, I'll give you a reason! What you did, what I saw, it was unexpected, I wasn't prepared for it…the thoughts that flash through the human brain when one is surprised are amazing, and, and unexpected in themselves." He looked at me, his eyes clearly saying, "Please say you understand what I mean, I don't want to say it aloud."

"Okay, Neal. I get it. Thank you."

"And Izzy…I will say this. I don't know a lot. About the humans and how they react to surprises, about seven year olds and their obsession with scissors, about how I should tell you that I am rather attracted to you…" he trailed off, seeming not to notice what he said until about five seconds later, when his eyes widened and he blushed.

So with all of my grace and eloquence, I asked, "So how 'bout them Riders?"

He grinned a bit too hastily and adopted the lofty tones that I knew so well. "I do not lower myself to follow such an _unruly_ game as," he sniffed for effect, "_football._"

"Priss." I was eternally grateful that he had followed the hasty change of subject. "Even _I_ am known to don red and brown for a game, and I have no clue about rules or scoring or anything."

"Yes, well, I have better things to do.'

"Like writing poetry to Uline's left earlobe?" I asked without thinking.

Neal gave me a pointed look and I coughed.

"Um, I have to, you know, go. Uh, homework."

"Don't let me keep you from that," he said airily, smirking slightly. He was not going to take the third lame excuse that I made, so I figured I should leave.

"Right. See ya," I said, and got the heck out of there.

I stopped in my room and glanced out the window to see Liana already down doing warming-up exercises. I walked downstairs, already formulating today's lecture in my head.

**So. Horrible, okay, good, awesome? Should it stay a "oneshot" or should I add more chapters? Please review and tell me!**


End file.
